In the years 1988
to 1992 when the four parts of this
Ring cycle were issued piecemeal
they came into direct competition
with the simultaneously produced DG
cycle from Levine and Metropolitan
forces. On top of this both companies
had the same singer, James Morris,
as Wotan – seemingly the only one
at the time up to the requirements
of this superhuman role. Generally
speaking one can say that Levine’s
reading is the grander whereas Haitink’s
is leaner and lighter. This may sound
like ruling Haitink out from the very
beginning as being inferior, but ‘light’
in this context has nothing to do
with lightweight – it rather indicates
a springier gait as opposed to Levine’s
more ponderous jog-trot. Both approaches
can be valid but with the recent knowledge
of Wagner’s instructions at the first
Bayreuth production in 1876, recorded
by his assistants, it seems that Haitink
instinctively felt Wagner’s will.
‘Never drag’ was a recurring comment
from the master and he knew best.
The Hartmut Haenchen recordings –
on both DVD and CD with different
casts – blew away the old cob-webs
but Haitink isn’t that far away either
with light and rather airy textures
and beautiful playing from the Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra. Initially
I thought once or twice that a little
more energy wouldn’t have come amiss
but either I adjusted to it or he
caught up with his intentions. The
arrival of the giants in Das Rheingold
is truly formidable and with state-of-the-art
recording the impact is great. As
with Haenchen I thought the prelude
to Die Walküre was too
streamlined – here my ideal is Furtwängler’s
jagged and rather unwieldy approach.
The same difference is evident in
the Ride of the Walküre, but
these are rather exceptions. By and
large Haitink’s is a splendid reading
and I need only mention the jubilant
end to act II of Siegfried
and the likewise exuberant prelude
to act III. It should also be said
that the whole build up to the immolation
scene in Götterdämmerung
is grandiose and is marred only by
less than appealing singing from Brünnhilde.
These highlights are not isolated
‘hits’ but part of a generally well
conceived reading. From an orchestral
point of view this set is utterly
satisfying.

A look at the casts
above reveals that EMI have assembled
a group of singers in the highest
division, some seasoned veterans and
some who were fairly new at the time
but have turned out to be eminent
in their generation. The casting is
also, with a few exceptions, very
consistent, which contributes to making
the cycle as a whole very coherent.
Of the major roles it is only Fricka
that is exchanged. In Das Rheingold
Marjana Lipovšek depicts the mixed
emotions of the frustrated wife with
tenderness as well as biting anger
and often sings in a beautiful bel
canto style. Waltraud Meier in
Die Walküre is even more
beautiful and the sadness in Fricka’s
long solo So ist es denn aus mit
den ewigen Göttern is tangible
and Deiner ew’gen Gattin heilige
Ehre has a nobility that is almost
sacred.

Towering presence
characterises the two rulers of the
elated Valhalla and the infernal Nibelheim.
Theo Adam was for many years a leading
Wotan, with two complete Ring
recordings to his credit: Karl Böhm’s
live set from Bayreuth in the mid-1960s
and Marek Janowski’s studio set from
the early 1980s. Here he is a wonderfully
expressive and diabolic Alberich with
superb enunciation. He has the ability
to convey also the visual aspect of
his reading through vocal means alone.
His voice was never a particularly
beautiful instrument and here, when
he is well past sixty, the tone is
sometimes unsteady and much of the
reading is delivered in a kind of
speech-song. One doesn’t expect Alberich
to be anything but mean and repulsive
but Adam manages to create a three-dimensional
portrait of the dwarf. In his monologue
in Das Rheingold, after he
has been released, Bin ich nun
frei?, it is possible to feel
pity for him. But it is the evil side
that is the most telling and when
he spits out his damnation of the
ring, Meinem Fluch fliehest du
nicht!, it is really spine-chilling.
He is just as expressive in Siegfried
and Götterdämmerung
and especially in the latter opera
his Schläfst du, Hagen, mein
Sohn? is memorable in its hushed
intensity.

As his antithesis,
Wotan, James Morris impresses greatly
with untiring power and very often
also lyrical sensitivity and warmth.
A good instance is in the second act
of Die Walküre when he
defends the love of the twins. His
depression after being forced to give
in to Fricka’s demands, Was keinem
in Worten ich künde, is low-voiced
but strongly emotional. The long scenes
with Brünnhilde are strongly
charged and in the final monologue
he almost challenges Hans Hotter.
Der Augen leuchtendes Paar
is truly moving. His is also a grand,
authoritative Wanderer. Occasionally
he is a bit rough-hewn but all through
the cycle he is a pillar of strength,
always committed, never bland. As
a whole this is a reading to compete
with the best.

Overall there is
an impressive array of low male voices
on this set. Hans Tschammer is a sonorous,
noble and beautiful Fasolt. Kurt Rydl
in those days was much steadier of
voice than he has been lately and
just as expressive as Fafner. In Siegfried
he is nothing less than formidable.
This is an adjective to apply also
to Matti Salminen’s Hunding: black,
malicious – but also warmly human
when he first meets Siegmund. John
Tomlinson, soon to become Bayreuth’s
Wotan, is here a nasty Hagen, singing
with black steady tone and impressive
presence. Thomas Hampson as the weak
Gunther in Götterdämmerung
initially sounds uncharacteristically
harsh and dry-voiced but in the second
act he has recovered. Andreas Schmidt
is a powerful Donner in Das Rheingold.

In the tenor department
Peter Seiffert as Froh delivers a
glowing Zur Burg führt die
Brücke and Heinz Zednik is
an oily Loge. Peter Haage’s Mime,
light-voiced and lyrical, manages
to bring out the duality of his character,
the falseness as well as the occasional
humanity, better than any other tenor
I can recall. I haven’t heard Peter
Schreier, who was widely praised for
his assumption of the role on Janowski’s
set, but this must be in the same
division.

Of the tenor heroes
Rainer Goldberg’s Siegmund is rather
dry-voiced but he is sensitive with
words and nuanced in his phrasing.
Steely power is reserved for the big
solos with an impressive Winterstürme
crowning his achievement. He sang
Siegfried on the competing Levine
set. Siegmund on the Janowski recording
was Siegfried Jerusalem but here he
is upgraded to his namesake in the
concluding two operas. Just as on
the slightly later Bayreuth Ring
under Barenboim (on both CD and DVD)
he is superb. His tone lacks the baritonal
darkness of a Melchior and it isn’t
the most voluminous of voices. In
the dialogues with Mime it is sometimes
hard to tell who is singing. This
is however the only drawback I can
find in his vocal armoury. He is expressive,
has excellent diction and beauty of
tone and he phrases with the utmost
musicality. The hot-tempered and not
very likable young Siegfried is well
depicted and the forging scene is
thrilling and sung with a good deal
of swagger, helped to no little degree
by Haitink’s swinging conducting.
But he also has great lyrical beauty.
When he ponders on his parents, whom
he never saw, he surpasses most other
Siegfrieds with an unforced and natural
outpouring of almost Mozartean elegance.
The older Siegfried in Götterdämmerung
is just as convincing with ardent
and vital singing in the prologue
but even this is surpassed by his
death scene Brünnhilde! Heilige
Braut!

On the distaff side
Marjana Lipovšek also appears as a
Waltraute full of character. The Rhinemaidens
are excellent in both their constellations.
In Götterdämmerung
the three Norns are starry casting.
They are well contrasted with Jard
van Nes’s rounded and warm portrayal.
Anne Sofie von Otter is brighter and
more intense and Jane Eaglen dramatic
and brilliant – pointing forward to
her career as a leading hochdramatisch
soprano. The octet of Valkyries
are splendid. Eva Johansson is a fresh
Freia and Jadwiga Rappé an
excellent Erda.

One of the finest
assumptions in this Ring cycle
is Cheryl Studer’s Sieglinde, relatively
early in her recording career. She
is youthful, eager and warm. Her combination
of lyrical beauty and dramatic brilliance
reaps laurels, not least in Der
Männer Sippe, where the intensity
is whipped up almost to ecstasy and
true ecstasy is reached in the final
duet of act I. Jessye Norman was a
magnificent Sieglinde on the Levine
set but Studer is much more believable
through the greater sense of vulnerability.
Eva-Maria Bundschuh is a good Gutrune
in Götterdämmerung
and might have been able to take on
Brünnhilde as well. A somewhat
surprising guest appearance is Kiri
Te Kanawa as Woodbird. This is a role
normally allotted to a bright light-voiced
coloratura soprano, more twitteringly
bird-like, but Kiri Te Kanawa lightens
her voice admirably and it is a fine
bonus to have her in an unlikely role.

I have left Eva Marton’s
Brünnhilde to the last and hers
is the achievement that is most problematic.
No one can deny that she has the grand
voice for the role and she has many
moments of deep-probing insights.
The final scene of Die Walküre
is certainly deeply felt. She
is also able to scale down her big
voice as in the final scene of Siegfried,
Heil dir, Sonne. The immolation
scene in Götterdämmerung
is involved and full of expression.
But – and the extra bold type
is intentional, since it is a strong
but – very little of her singing is
attractive as pure singing. Her once
glorious instrument had by the late
1980s lost much of its lustre and
steadiness. Following her through
almost four years, from Die Walküre,
recorded in February and March 1988
to Götterdämmerung
recorded in November 1991, the vocal
decline is obvious. The tone becomes
more occluded and – most annoying
of all – the already over-generous
vibrato develops more and more into
a wobble. Her diet of heavy roles
had taken its toll. I was lucky enough
to hear her somewhere around 1980
as Judith in Bartók’s Duke
Bluebeard’s Castle and then she
was glorious. About that time she
recorded Korngold’s Violanta
– with Siegfried Jerusalem as on this
Ring cycle as her lover – and
she is great there. On an LP (Sefel
Records SEFD 5024) published in 1984,
she sings a wonderful Wagner program
with an immolation scene to trump
most other sopranos of the period.
It is a vibrant voice even here but
it is steady and crystal clear and
with brilliance in the upper region
that almost challenges that of Birgit
Nilsson. The one she delivers a decade
later for Haitink is only a shadow
of the excellence on that LP.

Brünnhilde is
central to any Ring cycle and
question is: is Eva Marton’s less
than appealing singing so serious
a drawback that it rules this set
out? I don’t think so. It is still
a powerful reading of considerable
merit and not every listener reacts
negatively to wobbles and other voice
defects. I also derived quite a lot
of pleasure from her involved and
convincing singing. Since this is
the only real blot on this impressive
enterprise I still rate it as one
of the most recommendable Ring
cycles in relatively recent years.
Barenboim’s Bayreuth cycle - which
is not a live recording - is
a prime recommendation in either format
(DVD or CD) with the same Siegfried
as here, the wholly admirable Anne
Evans as Brünnhilde and John
Tomlinson’s authoritative Wotan. There
is also the recent Adelaide set, live
recorded, with tremendous SACD sound
and excellent conducting by Asher
Fisch. It also has Lisa Gasteen as
a strong Brünnhilde, John Bröcheler
a better than average Wotan and Stuart
Skelton arguably the best recent Siegmund.
Siegfried is sung by two different
tenors and Gary Rideout as the young
Siegfried is very good while his counterpart
in Götterdämmerung
is less successful. There are other
cycles as well but on all counts Haitink’s
is one of the frontrunners.

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